VOLUME ISSUE APRIL , P113
Triumph also tweaked the styling with a
new seat cowl, exhaust, and lighter wheels
for a more agile look. The one-piece 'bars are
wider and higher, and there's a new adjustable
steering damper from Marzocchi. An updated
five-inch TFT dash with Bluetooth controls
the new rider aids and suspension settings
through five riding modes. Standard features
include cruise control, backlit switchgear, fully
keyless ignition, and Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa
SP V3 tires, plus an Emergency Deceleration
Warning system that flashes the rear brake
light during hard braking.
At first glance, the $19,995 RS looks
similar to the previous model, but under the
surface, there are many updates. Triumph
organized two days of testing for us, with one
day on the roads of southern Portugal to test
the Smart EC3 suspension and another at
the challenging Portimão racetrack to push
the new aids to their limits. However, Mother
Nature had other plans.
ON THE ROAD
Triumph claims 180.5 horsepower for the
Speed Triple 1200 RS, making it their most
powerful bike to date. With a cold but dry start
to day one of the launch test, the plan was
to explore the RS's real-world performance
on tricky Portuguese roads before hitting the
track to push its limits with wheelie control,
track modes, and all those horses.
Right away, the new 10mm wider, 7mm
higher one-piece 'bars made the riding position
feel roomier yet still aggressive. The Öhlins
EC3 suspension, paired with the lighter cast
aluminum wheels, delivered a smooth ride over
rough roads, a big improvement over the older
model's harsher setup. Though the EC3 system
can still be manually adjusted, it's mostly au
-
tomatic, continuously adjusting compression
and rebound while the preload is mechanical.
This is a significant step over the previous
model with manual quality Öhlins suspension.
Early morning
drizzle made for a
perfect opportunity
to test the more
sedate modes
within the
Triumph's ECU.
